Revival 4.4
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Revival 4.4
An explosion intercepted my stun beam's trajectory, and briefly, I saw the outline of Oni Lee before the body crumbled to ash. Since when was he capable of teleporting at that high speed? I hadn't gotten a good look at him before he collapsed, but was it possible that he was also equipped with the power armor? I made sure that the signal visor's jamming sequence was running as I walked closer to Bakuda. I also ran an area scan to try and locate the teleporter. I needed to make sure I could keep track of the entire area.
"You bitch," said Bakuda, the lenses on her goggles flaring blue for a second before shifting back to red. Interesting. She seemed to be in control of the shifting, even if this was some sort of tinker approximation of a Phazon Enhancement Device, it was sophisticated enough to swap modes with ease. "You interrupted me! I mean, I know she said you would, but have some fucking courtesy!"
I fired at her again. She asked for it.
She threw a projectile at my beam that exploded on impact. Bomb. She threw a bomb fast enough to block the stun beam, and the explosion's shockwave rippled through the area. And she was reaching for more, launching them from a blaster at her side.
She fired a spread of bombs at me, surrounding me in a circle of them. Judging from the way they flashed, they were on some sort of timer as the remote detonation was jammed. I used my Flash Shift to move ten meters out of the epicenter of the blasts, and the bombs exploded in rapid succession. The staccato of their explosions rocked the dockyard.
"You stupid alien bitch," Bakuda said, her goggles flaring blue again. That familiar feeling of Phazon made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, even within my suit. A part of me wanted to consume it, to make it my own. "I'm a genius, and she knows all your moves. You have zero chance!"
"Who's she ranting about?" Lookout's voice came over the comms.
"Alien makes sense," Tattletale said. "But that second she… this is not right."
No, it wasn't right at all. Tattletale had told me about Bakuda's Phazon acquisition, but I certainly hadn't expected her to be able to build this. I made no assumption about what Oni Lee wore, but if she could build one PED, why wouldn't she be able to build two? How had she managed to get it away from Canberra? Who was her supplier?
I did another Flash Shift toward her just as she launched another set of five bombs. I swapped to my missiles, precision shooting each one out of the air. The first two bombs exploded normally, small yield explosives meeting my own small yield explosives. The next three, however? One blew up into a cold icy mist which then erupted into ice shards. If I hadn't been in my Gravity Suit, it might have caused me significant issues. Another of the bombs exploded and suddenly, in a two meter radius, all matter accelerated hard into the ground. Increased gravity, somehow from a bomb. The final one, however, was the weird one. When the missile exploded the bomb, the flames from the missile's normal explosion seemed to freeze in a sphere, contained by the exploded bomb. The air around it seemed to shimmer, a bubble of strange energy readings around it. What was that?
"She has time stop bombs," Tattletale said. "Why does she have time stop bombs?"
Oh. Time stop bombs. I found myself agreeing with Tattletale.
Bakuda cackled. Before she could even get a word out, I shot her again with a charged shot. The tinker rapidly brought her launcher up and met it with another bomb. The lenses on her goggles now glowed a bright blue, and she fired another bomb at me, forcing me to Shift away. "I told you already, Samus Aran! She knows your moves! Which means I know your moves!"
Immediately, I Shifted to right beside her, slamming my gun arm forward and bracing it. She smacked my arm with the launcher just before I fired. The charged shot went wide off course, striking a shipping container. I punched at her with my free hand, and she blocked with hers. I kicked, she kicked back. She struck out at me, I blocked. With the Phazon flowing through her PED, it was quickly obvious that she was in Hypermode, but she only was meeting me blow for blow.
Still no Oni Lee though. Where was he? Why couldn't I sense him?
A bomb exploded at our feet, sending us flying in opposite directions. I ducked into a Screw Attack and landed on my feet, sliding backward along the ground. As I steadied myself, a shorter man locked his arms around my own, pulling them behind my back. I struggled at the grip, briefly, and then I slammed my helmet back, striking nothing. Whoever held me had a stronger grip than the average human but was nowhere near as strong as Lung had been.
Oni Lee. Phazon Enhanced. Even with his enhanced strength, I would be able to break his grip if I needed to, but acting as I was, wasn't working at stopping her. I glanced over to Bakuda.
The PED-wearing tinker had landed on her back after the explosion, and she slowly climbed to her feet. Sparks, seemingly coated with Phazon particles dripped down from her mask, blue energy dematerializing in the air around us, and a glowing stream of blue and red liquid leaked from the goggles down the sides. Two of the Phazon-filled pipes had burst and were leaking. It wasn't enough Phazon to truly threaten the city, but it was enough to be worrisome. While containing the Phazon was possible, the fact that Bakuda kept mentioning her meant that it wouldn't be easy.
I knew who she was. Who she had to be.
"Thank you, Lee," Bakuda said, panting. Her voice clearly strained from the overuse of the PED and Hypermode. It was almost as if she had embraced the corruption from it, but how? It hadn't been that long since Canberra. When had she acquired the Phazon? Where did she get it? How was she already this far gone? It certainly had to have been after Canberra, at least. Lee hadn't had any Phazon infection the last time I'd fought him.
The tinker sauntered up to me, slowly. The Phazon dripping from her body as she did so, clearly not caring what was happening to the environment. Some of this had to be her influence. The corruption and Bakuda's own mention of her meant that somehow Dark Samus had come to this Earth in some form. The creature's consciousness was here; its corruption was here. And in no way should it have been.
"Warning," Adam said in my visor. "Ambient Phazon levels growing. Per Federation protocol Gamma-Delta-Nu-One-One-One-Eight-Zero-Two-Prime, anti-Phazon technologies are to be employed. As you do not have any direct anti-Phazon weaponry on you at this time, Lady, I suggest you deal with them as you see fit."
In other words, lethality is allowed. Eliminating the threat was necessary, and without the help of someone like Eidolon, I was the only one capable of neutralizing this. Still, it would make sense to at least try and check in. I responded, glancing around my visor and typing with the hand in my gun arm. Was there any information from Piggot?
"Velocity is en route," Adam said. "And Piggot wished to inform you that a kill order is not authorized for Bakuda."
Of course, I do not report to the PRT or the Protectorate in any fashion. I operate under Federation Authority and my own. While I have paid lip service to the local authorities, Phazon is a threat that could potentially be world-ending. Piggot could wail and gnash her teeth all she wanted, but at the end of the day, this was my decision. Not hers. Adam was under my orders to try to keep things amiable between us
Bakuda ran a hand under my head when she got close. "Oh, Samus Aran, you have no idea how much she wants you. Your suit, your body, your mind. She wants you at her mercy, but I have you at mine. I told you before, she knows all of your moves, and so do I."
Dark Samus certainly knew all my moves. She copied them, used them, and she used the infection of Phazon to spread her corruption throughout the galaxy. But I beat her twice as Dark Samus, and I beat her once as a Metroid. Perhaps the consciousness had forgotten that, but I hadn't. That was why what Bakuda said was—
"Wrong," I said, and I activated the ability my suit had obtained from Lung. I didn't know exactly what it would do, but immediately, the Metroid in me grew gleeful as my suit lit on fire. I felt a ripple go down my suit, and along my free hand. I drove the now clawed hand at Bakuda's throat, and I blasted backward with my gun arm. A gout of flame and plasma erupted from the barrel, striking Oni Lee, forcing him to let me go.
As he released me, my claw closed around Bakuda's throat. I'd had claws before, and I knew how to use them effectively. The claws grew larger, and black metallic, chitinous scales segmented on top of it, burning away any Phazon that dripped onto my suit's skin. This was very similar to the Metroid armor that I'd worn, but it felt different. I continued to fire at the teleporter with my flaming plasma. He rapidly teleported, leaving his bodies behind to collapse into ash.
"What?" Bakuda choked out, her voice strained from my claws digging into her costume. She smashed an arm into mine, and then she fired the launcher at the ground nearby, planting two bombs, but I simply Flash Shifted away, carrying her with me. She struggled within my grasp some more. "What the?"
I squeezed tighter, and I heard her suit squealing under the pressure. "Where?"
She coughed. "Where what?" Was she already starting to lose air? I would have thought my question was obvious.
"The Phazon. Where?" I asked, and I let off two homing missiles, blowing up two more Oni Lee clones.
"I'm not telling you anything! She's going to…"
I snarled at her, nearly an actual roar, and for a second, it felt like my helmet was going to separate into a maw. What was this ability?
"I'm not telling you shit, alien bitch!" Bakuda yelled.
I slammed her into the ground, multiple times, and I focused on draining as much of the Phazon as I could from the bootleg PED she had. Metroids consumed energy, and I was no different. It just wasn't the only thing I would feed upon.
Oni Lee retreated, or at least I assumed he did, just in time for Velocity to catch him. The speedster managed to knock him out and zip tie him with some sort of sedative. I missed the fight, too focused on dealing with Bakuda.
Dark Samus. Bakuda had been talking about Dark Samus. It was inevitable that her corruption would cause a proper return at this point.
I think she would severely regret any sort of rematch. Especially with my new upgrades. Including the Escalation Enhancement.
She and Ridley could come and try to take my family from me once more.
They would fail.
